Sunday 30 September 2012

SteamPunk Robin



This card was made using Sam Poole’s Steampunk Christmas Stamps, a beautiful set of stamps (see below). If you enjoy Steampunk,  she has also also brought out another set called Time Flies available from  Creative Expressions, http://www.creative-expressions.uk.com/.  This card will be featured tomorrow on my blog as a tutorial so for more details, join me tomorrow.  Bye for now and hope you have a nice, relaxing Sunday. lilygee x

U-Mount Steampunk Christmas A5 Rubber Stamp

Medallion Flowers


Good Morning Blog Friends, hope you are well today.  Here is a card using Spellbinders D-Lites Medallion 1.  I cut three flowers into a piece of kraft card, attached some ribbon for stems and a few pearls and leaves made with black card and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Lava Black.  I then cut the medallions again in black card and offset them on the kraft card and added pearls and backed the kraft card onto a piece of plain cream card, which you can see behind the flowers.  I made two flowers with old dictionary paper using Spellbinders Grand Peonies (using the smaller dies).  They were distressed with Tim Holz inks: Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and Black Soot.  I embossed the edges of the card with Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Copper embossing powder.  I stamped a sentiment from Creative Expressions Fanciful Phrases and the fairies and flowers are from Lavinia Stamps.
Hope you like it – bye for now
Love lilygee xxx

Friday 28 September 2012

A Big Pink Thank you



Hello again bloggers – here is the second post and hope you like it.  I started with an 8x8 card .  The base is a piece of plain white cardstock with pierced edges using Tim Holz Ideology Ruler Next I matted a piece of pink embossed card stock cut with an aperture onto a slightly larger pink pearlescent piece.  A piece of white pearlescent was embossed with Spellbinders Asian M-Bossability and I attached it behind the aperture.  The flowers were cut from Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and inked. I cut the large central motif from Spellbinders Asian Motifs.  I cut and embossed the second largest Spellbinders Labels 6 with the Asian M-Bossability and matted the smaller piece from the Asian Motifs on top of the label.  The small corner pieces came from Spellbinders Asian Accents.  The ink used on these pieces is Adirondack Watermelon but with a lot of colour sponged  off.  I used  Rangers Cut n Dry Foam for the inking.  The sentiment comes from Creative Expressions' Fanciful Phrases stamp set.  I added some dusty pink Sheer Wrinkled Edge ribbon from Creative Expressions and a large  Fancy Pearl was also added to the bow (the pearls also from Creative Expressions).  I added a couple of fancy swirls to the sides of the card.  Sorry I have used pink again; I’ve actually run out of pink card stock and I’m starting to panic!! 
I wish you all a very peaceful night and look forward to the next post. 
Take care – love from lilygee xxx.

A scene with Catitude


Good evening blog friends - I have two posts this evening.  The first uses one of my favourite cat stamps from Lavinia Stamps and I have done a similar composition to this in  an older post.  The cat really lends itself to some interesting scenes.  The hot air balloon comes from 'Clarity Stamps'.  All the other stamps can be found at 'Lavinia Stamps'.  I did this quite a while ago and although the brayering and distressing can be improved, I think the composition is interesting.  Tracy does such lovely stamping and brayering and I have 'replicated' many of her own compositions, but the stamps are so versatile and I am interested in moving on with them and using them as originally as possible.  I will try to come up with some new ideas and if you have done interesting scenes with Tracy's stamps, please tell me about your work.  The second post will be coming a little later this evening but for now, I wish you a peaceful and relaxing evening and a good weekend.  Take care and bye for now.
Love lilygee xxx

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Pink and Black


This is a fairly straightforward card.  I cut a piece of pearlescent pink around 7 inches and pierced the edges.  I cut another smaller square with The Grand Squares and pierced the edges on that too.  I cut an aperture out of the square with the third largest oval from  Spellbinders Grand Ovals and embossed a piece of white card with Spellbinders M-Bossability Folder Elegance which was inserted behind the aperture.  I layered the two largest Labels 21 (one in black and another in white) and distressed the small label with Rangers distress ink Victorian Velvet and added a sentiment.  I cut the flowers from Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and the leaves from Spellbinders Foliage 1 set.  I cut the butterfly and corners from Spellbinders Heartfelt Creations Decorative Butterfly Border.  I added some pearls to the corner pieces, the flowers, the butterfly and the swirls.  Hope you like it.
Bye for Now

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Winter Fairy


She looks very cold and very beautiful too!  The stamps are all available from Lavinia Stamps. She is actually called 'The Tree Fairy' but I think she is right for this scene because she is wearing her boots and it's pretty snowy!   For the sky I used Adirondacks: butterscotch, cloudy blue and a little watermelon with most of the ink rolled off to give a very light pink hue to the moon and around it.  The hills were made with paper masks and sponged with cloudy blue.  I used Onyx Black for all the stamps and glittered the fairy wings, stars and the tops of the fir trees with Rangers Stickles.  Hope you like it.  Bye for now.
love lilygee

Monday 24 September 2012

Fairy Abodes


A short post today - another of my favourite fairy scenes - no fairies here but some oh so cute fairy abodes - stamps available from Lavinia Stamps http://laviniastamps.com/.  I did this card some time ago and I am not certain what colour inks I used for the brayering and distressing but if you use Butterscotch and Peach Bellini or Watermelon and some BlackSoot Distress Inks around the edges it would look good.
Hope you like it - bye for now.
Love lilygee xxx

Sunday 23 September 2012

Butterfly Magic



The card base for this is my usual 8x8.  I cut the largest of the Spellbinders Grand Labels 23 for my striped background of grey and white, cut it in half and put half at the top and half at the bottom of the card.  I cut the two largest labels of this set together in purple card stock to create a frame.  The frame was sprayed slightly with Crafters Companion Gold Sparkle.  A piece of black card stock was inserted behind the frame and I matted another striped layer on top of this.  The small pieces attached to the large frame came from Spellbinders Ironworks Motifs; these were cut away from the large motif in this set.  They were clipped on and pearls were added.  The butterflies were cut from Spellbinders Nested Butterflies; one was cut in purple and one in cream, they were sprayed slightly, folded in half to form a double layer and attached together to form the two coloured combination.  I added a couple of pearls to them, made a few rolled roses and leaves, added some Spellbinders Foliage and a stickpin threaded with a few nice beads.  Hope you like it.
That’s all for now.  Love lilygee.

Saturday 22 September 2012

Red and White Wedding Birds



This is a red and white themed wedding card but obviously you could make it in any colour you wish and preferably pastel colours for a more subtle effect; but some people do like bold contrasts.  The wedding birds were made using some Classic Paisley Spellbinders I’ve had for a while.  I saw the dies used in a similar way on youtube and decided to make my own version of the card – I think they are quite cute.  I took a piece of red pearlescent cardstock and cut it a little smaller than my 8x8 card base.  I pierced the edges and then cut the largest of the Spellbinders  Grand Squares in white pearlescent and embossed it with Couture Creations ‘Tied Together’ embossing folder.  I added some corner pieces from Spellbinders Parisian Accents.  I cut the two largest dies from Spellbinders Labels 28 to make a frame and then cut my favourite Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die in red pearlescent and attached it to the back of the frame.  I cut two large paisley dies in white, embossed the female bird with Couture Creations Swirls embossing folder and embossed the male bird with a more masculine embossing folder.  I then cut a large paisley piece in black with a shiny reverse side, cut the top of the die off at an angle and folded the bottom half over to simulate the male bird’s lapel on the black dinner jacket.  I cut the smaller paisley dies for the birds’ wings, glittered the female wing with Diamond Stickles and cut the shiny side of the black card for the male bird’s wing.  I cut some small pieces of shiny black card to form the birds’ beaks, a small piece to serve as a bow tie  and added some black beady gems for eyes.  I took a small piece of netting and cut it with one of Spellbinders scalloped circles, doubled it over and gathered it to form the bride’s veil, added some pearls for decoration.  I cut some Spellbinders Anemone and Daisy flowers in red and white, mixed them up and layered them, added some white pearls as accents on strategic places and added my sentiment cut from one of Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2.  Hope you like it.  Bye for now
Love lilygee.

Friday 21 September 2012

Christmas Birthday


Hello Everyone,

This card was made for someone born on Christmas Eve but it could obviously be a Christmas card if you changed the sentiment.  I was asked to design a birthday card with a Christmas feel to it and I used a lot of the Christmas Spellbinders.  I used an 8x8 card base in white and covered the front with some pink pearlescent card, pierced on  two sides of the card only.  The piercing was done with a Tim Holz Ideology 12 inch design ruler.  The ruler has holes along the edge allowing you to use a piercing tool to evenly pierce the edges.  These rulers are available from  http://www.creative-expressions.uk.com and most of the other products I used can be purchased from their website too. I then layered a piece of white pearlescent card on top and lined it up with the right hand side of the card so that only two sides of the pink card showed.   This piece was the negative of a frame I had cut;  I used the two largest dies from the set of Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments 2012 and cut them together to form a frame and I then embossed them using Spellbinders Holiday Magic M-bossabilities embossing folder.   I cut a Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die in white pearlescent, attached it behind the frame and embellished the lattice with pearls.  This was inserted inside the negative and the remaining positive piece cut from the two dies was used to add another, smaller ornament alongside the larger one.  The smaller ornament was attached with with red and white bakers twine and tucked behind the white card.  I cut a strip of white pearlescent and embossed it with Holiday Magic, inked it and covered it with some sheer wrinkled ribbon in dusty pink. I placed my sentiment cut from Spellbinders Labels 20 along with a bow and a large faux gemstone on the left side of the card. I cut several of the Spellbinders Poinsettias and some of the dies from the Create a Flake 4, inked them using Adirondack Watermelon dye based ink and cut and inked some leaves using Adirondack bottle green.  I added some Ice Stickles (diamond) here and there to the edges of the flowers and snowflakes.

I have added the insert too for you to see.  This is basically an embossed ornament, two strips of pink card and a flower for decoration.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Kaden's Birthday

Hello Everyone - Sorry I haven't posted anything over the last few days but I will be posting more cards this week.  This is a digital card made with Serif's Craft Artist.  Now and then I have a play with this software - it is so good and they have just brought out a new updated version with more crafty features.  This card was made for my grandson, Kaden - his birthday is next week so I hope he isn't reading my blog!
Bye  for now
love lilygee xxx

Tuesday 11 September 2012

The Elusive Butterfly


Hello Friends,

This card was made using Spellbinders Grand Labels 23.  I chose three backing papers from one of the Samantha Walker digikits.  The papers were cut in half and added to each side of the card to frame the central, rectangle.  My sentiment, from Creative Expressions' Fanciful Phrases was stamped using Adirondack's dye inkpad 'Raisin'.  The butterfly was cut from Spellbinders' 'Fanciful Flight'.  It was painted with Cosmic Shimmer mica paints and glazed with a glazing medium.  I added some pearls to the butterfly and a trail of small pearls also.  I cut and made some rolled roses from paper and felt and added a swirl and some leaves.  The small butterflies were cut from a craft punch, coloured with Adirondack's Raisin ink and glazed.  I added some pearls to them also.
Hope you like it - that's all for now
love lilygee xxx

Monday 10 September 2012

Cute Wedding Cats

A cute wedding card made with some old decoupage papers I purchased some time ago and spellbinders.
Hope you like it - not a long post today; sorry I have to rush off so hope to post again soon.

love lilygee xxx

Sunday 9 September 2012

Up and Away

Just to round of the day, a third post with my beloved cat image (I'm sure you have realized I love cats (it's surprising that I only have one),  I would be so happy to receive a few comments or an email.
Wishing you a peaceful Sunday evening.
love lilygee xxx

Have just heard that my poor Ates (Fire), brother of Elmaz (diamond) is sick! He is so sweet and I cannot bear the thought of him being in pain - I hope he is better by tomorrow and I'm sure my daughter and her husband will make sure he gets a visit to the vet.  God bless him.

The Stag

This is my second post today - another brayered and stamped scene (stamps from Lavinia Stamps)  Could be a nice card for a guy I think.  Hope you like it.
love lilygee xxx

Nature for All





Hi Everyone,

I hope you like this card – it is a kind of tribute to Nature and all the good things she offers to all creatures, including cats.  As you can see this time round the cat  is mesmerised by the cherry blossom, perhaps because it spots some movement, imagines a little birdie up there or maybe, just like us, it really appreciates Nature’s abundance and beauty.  As you'll see, when you look at the original card, the cat is focusing on the dragonfly - and it looks so different whole.  I think both have their own charm.

I tried to give the card an organic feel – using old dictionary paper, kraft card, raffia and an embossibility that simulates woodbark.  The original stamped and brayered card,  (also included for you to see) was cut in pieces and inserted behind the frames.   If you spot a stray pearl on one of the small flowers, it is not meant to be there; but I didn’t notice it until after taking the pic – so just imagine it without the pearl.  I used ‘Spellbinders’ Grand Peonies to create the flower and hopefully I will show you how I made them some time this week.  That’s all for this post – if you have any questions you can email me at jeangursoy@gmail.com. 

Thursday 6 September 2012

Fairy Fantasy


Another Fairy Card made with 'Lavinia Stamps' and brayered - I have many of them but this will probably be the last for a while unless someone requests more.  Sorry I haven't given you any details about myself yet but this is a brand new blog - less than two weeks old and I am adding to it every day and will be completing my profile either today or tomorrow and telling you all a bit about myself.  I would so appreciate some comments if you have the time - you need to have a Google account and then you can comment.  I will be offering some blog candy when I reach 50 followers so please do give me some feedback.  I plan to post a variety of cards and don't be surprised at my sudden change of styles; I tend to change  styles and like trying new things.  Hope you enjoy these posts.
Lots of love lilygee xxx

Wednesday 5 September 2012

The Owl and the Pussycat



Do you like cats? – I adore them and I could watch them all day; they are so uninhibited and just go ahead and do their own thing regardless of anything or anyone – little rebels!  My own cat is called ‘Elmaz’, (it means diamond in Turkish), she is a half Bengal with beautiful markings on her face and body.  When she was a kitten she played in the shower regularly with her brother Ates (Fire).  I no longer have her brother; my daughter took him and he is the happiest cat ever and gets spoilt rotten and I get to see him just the same – but Elmaz didn’t really miss him when he went; they were having issues and  really needed to be separated.  Anyway, these cats are amazing; Bengals love water and we were so entertained when we first saw them playing with it.  She seems to be growing out of it now she’s getting older but she still likes to sit in the sink or in a saucepan that has had water in it.  At the moment she is driving me mad with her food fads; will only eat cat biscuits and prawns, no chicken, no mincemeat, no cheese, no cream, no milk, NOTHING!  And prawns are expensive too, it used to be cat biscuits and tuna but she suddenly stopped eating the tuna, whatever brand it happened to be; I thought she might like red salmon (I do) but no, she just backed slowly away from it in disgust!

I’ve stamped a lot of these cat pictures, the cat looking at this or that – and in this picture me thinks it’s true love, just like in the nursery rhyme, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’.  The stamps are all from Lavinia Stamps.  One of the things I’ve noticed about brayering is that it works just fine when the colours are blended on the roller, the card is super smooth (I use matt card from Lavinia Stamps) and you begin and end the brayering off the page.  I used to roll a lot of the colour off on to copy paper but then found that blending the colour onto a piece of acetate and keeping the acetate to refill the roller, so to speak, works a lot better, because the acetate stays wet and you can keep picking up the  colour if your roller drys out and you don’t have to reink using a pad.  But you still need to get rid of the ink on the edge of the roller by running it onto copy paper each time you load the roller either from the inkpad or from acetate.  I tend to go through phases where I do loads of brayered cards and then I stop and go on to something else for a few months at a time.  When I go back to the brayering, I have to relearn what I have forgotten, but it soon comes back.  They say there is a really good mat called the ‘SplodgeAway Mat’ that enables you to blend your colours really well, whether you are brayering or using distress inks – I haven’t tried one yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know what I think.  Hope you like the post.  Bye for now.
Love lilygee xxxx

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Wash Day in Faryland


What a sweet idea this is - another example of Lavinia Stamps; even fairies find time to do their washing!  All the stamps used here are from Lavinia Stamps.  Sorry this is not a long post and no Spellbinders either.
Love lilygee xxx

Saturday 1 September 2012

Fairy Tales



Good Morning Everyone,

This is a thank you card I made for someone using my favourite
'Lavinia Stamps' http://laviniastamps.com/  and brayering and masking to create the scene.   The original is shown below the card without any Spellbinders added. I used 'Adirondack Butterscoth, Peach Bellini and Mountain Rose and Espresso for the brayered and masked parts.  I cut a circle from a sticky note  and placed it where I wanted the moon.  I started brayering at the top using the Butterscoth, then added the Peach Bellini and finally Moutain Rose; hence going from light to dark colours.  I removed the sticky mask and stamped the Moon Fairy over the masked moon with Versafine Onyx Black.    I stamped the stars in clusters and then made a torn paper mask with copy paper to create the hills.  I brayered first with Butterscotch at the bottom and then began using the masks to create a series of hills, using Mountain Rose and Espresso on the upper hills.  I used the 'Gip' stamp at the top, around the fairy, moon and sky and stamped the 'Poppy Group' stamp over the brayered edge at the bottom.  I distressed the edges using 'Espresso' and added some stickles to the fairy wings, moon and stars.  I'd like to talk about my experiences with brayering some time next week and give some tips that I have discovered through trial and error.  Brayering is basically a matter of practice but having the right tools is also vital.

I added a frame in Centura White Pearlescent made with Spellbinders Grand Squares and backed it on to my favourite Grand labels 23, adding some foliage, a flower made from Spellbinders Blossom 3 and some rolled felt flowers.

Hope you like the card.  Will post again soon.  Lots of love from lilygee.  xxx